Separable fastener



Feb. 12, 1935. w. L. GILMORE 1,991,321

SEPARABLE FASTENER Filed Feb. 11, 1933 INVENTOR. William L. Gilmore fML ATTORNEYS.

Patented Feb. 12, 1935 UNITED STATES SEPARABLE FASTENER William Hookless Fastener Company,

Pennsylvania L. Gilmore, Meadville, Pa., assignor to a corporation of Application February 11, 1933, Serial No. 656,268

6 Claims.

My invention relates to fastening devices and particularly to. separable fasteners of that class having flexible stringers, cooperating series of closely spaced elements along the stringers, and a slider for quickly engaging and disengaging the elements. Such fasteners are commonly known as zippers.

It is an object of my invention to provide an improved form of fastener element which is 1.1 easily made by simple cutting and bending operations.

Another object is to provide an interlocking fastener with elements ofthe bent wire type which will be exceedingly strong and flexible 1,", without coming apart.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter more fully appear.

In the accompanying drawing, I have shown for purposes of illustration, three embodiments which '.i my invention may assume in practice. In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a fastening device made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross section through the fastener :7 on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a bent wire element;

Fig. 4 is a front end view of the element;

Fig. 5 is a rear end view of the element;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the modified form of element;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of a further modification; and

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the modification shown in Fig. 7;

The fastening device as illustrated comprises a pair of flexible tapes or stringers 9, 10 having cooperating rows of fastened elements 11 attached in closely spaced relation to the edges of 4: the stringers. The elements are arranged in staggered relation on the opposite stringers, and are brought into intermeshing and interlocking relation by means of a slider 12, operated by a pull tab 13.

The manner of engagement of the parts by the slider is similar to other fasteners of this type and will be clearly apparent from an inspection of Fig. l.

Each fastener element comprises preferably a round wire or strip which is bent in its mid portion to provide a loop to provide side arms 15 and 16. Such arms are bent together at the closed end of the loop to provide a neck or connecting portion 17, and extended outwardly and downwardly at the ends to provide interlocking hooks 18, 19. As seen in Fig. 2, the loop 14 pro-- vides a mounting portion which can be clamped around the edge of the stringers 9, 10. When the fastener is interlocked, the hooks 19' straddle the neck 17 and engage behind the hooks of elements in the opposite series and likewise, an element in the opposite series has hooks which straddle the neck 17 and engage behind the books 18, 19. The whole series of elements thus mutually cooperate to provide a strong inter- 10 lock.

When stress is applied to the fastener, it will be seen that any tendency'of the hooks to spread apart transversely is counteracted'by the gripping effect of the next adjacent hooks engaged around the neck 17.

In some instances, it may be desirable to keep the overall thickness of the fastener to a minimum and accordingly, it may be an advantage to have the members cross each other to provide a narrower neck portion 20 as seen in Fig. 6. In other respects, however, the construction and operation is the same as has already been discussed.

In Figs. 7 and 8 the mounting portion does not have an open end but extends through the tape. There is thus only a single bend or loop 21 and the arms of the loop are extended forwardly to provide a neck and interlocking hook portion, as in the other forms. In practice, this form of member will involve fewer bending operations and require less metal. If desired, one end of the wire may be pointed so that it can pierce the tape or the elements can be bent around a cord stringer which can be later assembled with a tape of the type having the longitudinal threads removed so that it can be passed over the fastener elements and folded around the cord.

While I have in this application, specifically described three embodiments which my invention may assume in practice, it will be understood that the foregoing description and illustration are merely for the purposes of explanation and various other forms will occur to those skilled in the art. i

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A separable fastener comprising a pair of flexible stringers, cooperating series of fastener elements on said stringers, each element comprising a strip ofgenerally uniform cross section bent to provide a mounting portion, two transversely spaced apart hook-like projections extending in the same direction longitudinally of the stringer, and a connecting portion joining said projections with said mounting portion, said projections being adapted to engage behind a pair of similar projections of a member on the other stringer.

2. A separable fastener comprising a pair of flexible stringers, cooperating series of fastener elements on said stringers, each element comprising a wire having its mid section bent to provide a clamping portion engaging the stringer, the ends of the wire being bent outwardly from the edge of the stringer and longitudinally in a direction parallel to the stringer .to provide spaced apart hooks to engage behind similar hooks of a fastener element on the other stringer.

3.-A separable fastener comprising a pair of flexible stringers, cooperating series of fastener elements on said stringers, each element comprising a wire of generally uniform cross section'bent at the middle to provide a loop and reversely bent at the ends of said loop to provide an open jaw portion, said ends being extended beyond the loop and turned to extend in the same direction longitudinally of the stringer to provide spaced apart hooks, said hooks being adapted to engage behind the hooks of a member on the otherstringer.

4. A separable fastener comprising a pair of flexible stringers, cooperating series of fastener elements on said stringers, each element comprising a wire bent to provide mounting means for engaging the stringer at its central portion, the ends .of said wire being extended outwardly from the edge of the stringers and then further bent to extend longitudinally in the same direction parallel to the stringer, and spaced apart transversely, said ends being formed to provide interlocking means for engagement with similar elements on the opposite stringer.

5. A separable fastener comprising a pair of flexible stringers, cooperating series of fastener elements on said stringers, each element comprising a wire strip bent in the middle to provide a mounting portion, both sides of the wire extending outwardly from the edge of the stringer, crossing each otherand at their ends extending longitudinally in the same direction along the stringer forming spaced apart hooks adapted to straddle and interlock with the crossed portion of a similar element.

6. A fastener element for separable fastener comprising a wire bent to provide an open end loop in its mid portion, and reversely bent at the open end of said loop to provide arms extending over the closed end of the loop, said arms being bent in contact with each other adjacent said closed end and extended beyond the same in an outwardly and downwardly direction from the edge of the stringer and longitudinally in a direction parallel to the stringer to provide spaced apart hooks adapted to interlock with a similar element.

WILLIAM L. GILMORE. 

